May Partner Spotlight

The National Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies Coalition (HMHB) is a recognized leader and resource in maternal and child health, reaching an estimated 10 million health care professionals, parents, and policymakers through its membership of over 100 local, state, and national organizations. Enhanced by a network of Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies state and local coalitions, HMHB creates partnerships among community groups, nonprofits, professional associations, businesses, and government agencies. HMHB’s mission is to improve the health and safety of mothers, babies, and families through educational materials and collaborative partnerships.

Outreach and Promotions

A long time partner of the National Diabetes Education Program (NDEP), HMHB regularly uses NDEP’s messages and materials to reach its audiences with diabetes information. For example, in observance of Mother’s Day and National Women’s Health Week 2012, HMHB joined NDEP to raise awareness of the lasting impact of gestational diabetes on women and their children and steps they can take to lower their risk for developing type 2 diabetes in the future.
To kick off the promotion, HMHB featured NDEP’s history of gestational diabetes (hGDM) messages and a link to the hGDM section of NDEP’s website in its “Monday Morning Memo” e-newsletter, which is distributed to more than 3,000 readers.
HMHB also used NDEP’s hGDM messages to create social media messages for Facebook and Twitter, raising awareness with its fans and followers throughout the month of May.

HMHB has also promoted NDEP’s hGDM messages by hosting a webinar entitled, “It's Never Too Early...To Prevent Diabetes: The Lasting Impact of Gestational Diabetes on Mothers and Children.” The webinar focused on the lifelong health risks for women with hGDM, risks to the child of the pregnancy complicated by gestational diabetes, and steps mothers can take to help lower these risks for both themselves and their children. Joanne Gallivan, M.S., R.D., Director of the NDEP at the National Institutes of Health, also presented NDEP resources for supporting women with hGDM, such as www.YourDiabetesInfo.org/GDM, Small Steps. Big Rewards. Your GAME PLAN to Prevent Type 2 Diabetes, and promotional tools that people could use to raise awareness in their communities.

“We value the work that NDEP does to provide free, evidence-based resources that we can use to reach our broader audiences with information about diabetes,” said Janice Frey-Angel, CEO of the National Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies Coalition. “We look forward to continuing our partnership with NDEP on this important effort in the years to come.”